South East Asia 2010

I am back in Kolkata after a five hour jeep ride from Gangtok to Siliguri and then the overnight train to Kolkata. All uneventful! I am back at the Broadway Hotel and since I have 2 more weeks until the conference I am looking at the guide book for interesting places to go. [...]

I plan on staying in Gangtok for three nights. I had planned on going to Kalimpong, but I really like it here as it has all the mod cons such as hot water, electricity most of the time, internet, and a nice room with a view of the mountains when the mist clears. [...]

I just had a real cool dinner in a bar...the only place you can get a beer with food, then I changed my mind and had only food as I am so tired. the jeep left around 6am so I did not sleep much last night as I was worried about sleeping in [...]

I arrived to Sikkim which was independent kingdom until 1975 - like Bhutan it was considered one of the last Himalayan Shangri La’s. It took 4 hours by jeep from Darjeeling to reach Pelling. From Darjeeling it is a 2 hour shared jeep ride to Jorenthang which is the transportation hub in Sikkim. [...]

The train arrived on time in Siliguri; after an egg roll (chapati with egg inside rolled up) we found a shared taxi to Darjeeling. I managed to get the last room at the Tranquility Hotel up on the ridge in 'Darjeeling. Alas, nice room, but no view. It is the end of the [...]